The present invention relates to a heating arrangement for ice skate blades.
Common ice skates used in skating have an elongate blade which is arranged to slide along the ice surface. Attempts to minimise the friction between the blade and the ice using heat are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,119,921 (Czaja) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,927 (Tvengsberg) which use resistance heating to heat a blade on a skate. Resistance heating uses a high amount of energy and providing enough power to maintain a heated blade for a sufficient length of time would need a large power source. Since the optimal situation is to have a light skate, the above examples would be relatively heavy and cumbersome to use, specifically in prolonged uses. U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,305 (Tabar) discloses a heating system primarily for skis which appears to be speculative in nature and includes a number of different arrangements which could be used.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an ice skate including a heating system which reduces the co-efficient of friction of the blade on the ice.
According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided an ice skate comprises:
a boot arranged to receive a person""s foot;
a skate blade assembly;
a blade mounting arrangement is arranged to be connected to a sole of the boot and arranged to support a skate blade thereon, and;
a blade heating arrangement having a battery power source and a heating element for generating heat from electrical power supplied by the battery power source;
wherein the skate blade includes a steel blade portion and an insert portion embedded within the steel blade portion formed of a material having a higher thermal conductivity than the steel blade portion;
and wherein a part of the insert portion extends from the skate blade upwardly therefrom to the heating element to form a heat transfer member for transferring heat from the heating element to the steel blade portion.
Preferably the insert portion is a plate parallel to a plane of the skate blade with the steel blade portion covering both sides of the plate.
Preferably the plate extends along a part only of the length of the steel blade portion.
Preferably the plate extends to a bottom edge of the steel blade portion.
Preferably the blade heating arrangement uses a field-effect transistor controlled by the microprocessor to operate in the non-linear range to heat the skate blade. This arrangement where the field effect transistor, or other suitable semi-conductor, is controlled by signals supplied thereto to operate in its non-linear range to generate a very high power throughput and thus very high heating effect is particularly suitable for heating as opposed to conventional low efficiency resistance heating systems. However other heating elements can be used.
Preferably at least part of the heating arrangement including the battery power source is mounted within the mounting arrangement and the insert portion extends from the blade to the mounting arrangement.
Preferably the blade heating arrangement has a motion sensor arranged to control the heating of the blade such that when the skate is in use the blade is heated, when the skate is not in use the heat is off.
Preferably the blade has sides which are insulated by a plastic material to provide an insulating layer between the blade and the air.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided an ice skate comprises:
a boot arranged to receive a person""s foot;
a skate blade assembly;
a blade mounting arrangement is arranged to be connected to a sole of the boot and arranged to support a skate blade thereon, and;
a blade heating arrangement having a rechargeable battery power source and a heating element for generating heat from electrical power supplied by the battery power source;
a heat transfer member extending from the heating element to the blade;
an electrical circuit arranged for controlling supply of battery power to the heating element;
wherein a contact for connection to a charging system for charging the battery power source is defined by the blade.
In this aspect, preferably the blade heating arrangement uses a field-effect transistor controlled by a microprocessor to operate in the non-linear range to heat the skate blade.
Preferably at least part of the heating arrangement including the battery power source is mounted within the mounting arrangement and the heat transfer member extends from the blade to the mounting arrangement.
According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a combination of an ice skate and a charger therefor comprising:
an ice skate comprising:
a boot arranged to receive a person""s foot;
a skate blade assembly;
a blade mounting arrangement is arranged to be connected to a sole of the boot and arranged to support a skate blade thereon, and;
a blade heating arrangement having a rechargeable battery power source and a heating element for generating heat from electrical power supplied by the battery power source;
a heat transfer member extending from the heating element to the blade;
an electrical circuit arranged for controlling supply of battery power to the heating element and for controlling charging of the rechargeable battery;
and a charging system comprising;
a skate guard having a support for the blade of the skate;
a first contact for engaging the blade;
and a second contact for engaging the skate at a position thereon spaced from the blade.
Preferably the first contact and the second contact are connected to a port on the skate guard for connection to a separate charger.